Springing into Singapore and Japan.

[GarrettM]

There was actually a proper service taking place inside the temple, and people were asked not to take pictures. Which may be the case all the time as far as I know. Plenty of people were ignoring the directive. We opted not to join them.

But we got some other pictures about the place.



The gardens were quite nice.


A quick drink from the spring.


This little girl was quite cute.

 

[GarrettM]

For a 100Y "donation" you can select your fortune from the drawers. What the hell.


Goodo! We got a regular fortune. Although we are moving house so we would enjoy that going well please.


Got to tie it to the wires or else it might not eventuate. Can't take any chances here.

 

[GarrettM]

All that fortune getting makes one pretty hungry.
We walked around the tourist areas a little more searching for somewhere to eat. Eventually found a place with space.

It was called Juraku.


Ramen for me, with pork slices. It was very good.


The wife ordered the fried prawns and oysters, hoping there'd be more prawn than oyster. There was not.


And the little one is happy as long as she has some rice, and some extra stuff to make a mess with.


After the meal we did a little more walking, and came across some stalls selling sweet potato icecream. Of course we had to try. Disappointingly it really just tastes like another vanilla. Still nice though.

 

[GarrettM]

Random Asakusa pics.

For when you need to keep your Stormtrooper cosy.


No idea what this monkey is up too, but I reckon the dog may not be too keen.

 

[GarrettM]

After finishing up at Arakusa we jumped on the dedicated Skytree line, across the river to the aforementioned landmark.

The Skytree is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, so it's still quite young. Evidently if you visit during your own birth month you get some sort of treat.

I'm an August baby so no treat for me.

The wife has decided not to join me on this particular mission. She and bub are staying downstairs to peruse the shops. But it's not until I've purchased my ticket and gone past the entrance that I realised I have all the money. Oh well, she'll have to get by for an hour or so.

Tickets to get to the Tembo Deck are about 2000Y. That's 350m above ground. To go the Tembo Galleria at 450m you need to buy an extra ticket at the Deck, for another 1000Y or so.

They sure get ya.

The lift up is fast, and you can barely tell it's moving. They change the themes with the seasons. Our lift had some sort of homage to the night sky. I think.

Out of the lift and the Tembo Deck is a vast sprawling round space offering expansive views over the megatropolis. Truly remarkable. Sadly though it's a tad hazy today, so no Mt Fuji. Bugger. Also no Yokohama. Pity.

Nevertheless it's an incredible vista no matter which way you look.

I did a few laps of the deck for about 30 minutes or so, taking a number of photos.





Earlier in the week on the way from the airport to our apartment I'd seen in the distance a bunch of very large nets interspersed in the suburbs. And I had no idea what they were for a few days until we were on a train that went past one.

A driving range! Makes absolute sense given the premium on space here. Here's a mini course to the north-east of the Skytree.



Plenty of good views from this height.

 

[GarrettM]

I wasn't sure about going up again, but figured it might be my only chance. So I paid the extra and jumped in the lift.

The attendant spoke to us all in Japanese, and it sounded like she was reminding us of something. I don't speak Japanese so had no idea.

Up goes the lift. And then I realised what she was saying. The bloody thing has a glass front! So up we go for 100m and every couple of seconds we're staring straight into the Skytree superstructure and then out into the sky and city beyond.

I'll admit by the time we got to the Galleria I had a little bit of jelly in my legs. Adding to the adrenalin was the sound effects in the lift. There's some sort of cross-promotion going on to do with a coming anime action flick called Attack on the Tower, and they were playing effects from that as we went up.



But I recovered soon enough.

Sadly my image app doesn't transfer video, so I can't share the experience with you.

The Galleria is actually a rising platform that twists around the tower, and you walk around to the highest point at 450m. The windows are somewhat curved, so you get more of a view down as well. It's high.



A plane coming into Haneda, care of the extreme zoom on the Lumix.



Once you leave the Galleria you can't go back up, so they tell you to absorb as much as you can.

I did head back down in the lift, which takes you back to a different part of the deck, where they helpfully installed a glass floor, for those people who enjoy staring straight down. Even knowing it was perfectly safe I still had to force myself to step on it. Sometimes I guess the body refuses to listen to the brain.



There's also a souvenir shop up here of course, and it has some call stuff. I bought some chocolates in a tin case with a view of the skyline including the tree. It wasn't too expensive. I was tempted by the scale models of the the Skytree, but don't really have anywhere to put it. Plus lugging it around for the next 17 days would piss me off eventually.

And that was my Tokyo Skytree experience. I remember really enjoying the Sky Tower in Auckland, and of course the Eiffel Tower. But this one tops both. Just in terms of scale, and of course the views. If only it wasn't so hazy on the day. It must make for some incredible shots at night time.

Perhaps I'll try for that next time I'm in town.

 

[GarrettM]

Friday morning in Tokyo, and with the wife still battling with her health I thought I would be helfpul and take the little one for a daddy daughter excursion, to Tokyo Dome and the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.

I checked the train route and off we went without a hitch, right to the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.



Turns out our questionable internet had shown me the wrong dome on the map, so instead of getting off at Suidobashi I got off at Sendagaya.

No harm done though. Back on the train inside five minutes and this time managed to get to the right spot.



Tokyo Dome is the home field of the Yomiuri Giants, Japan's most succesful and I believe also most despised team. Their crosstown rivals the Yakult Swallows play at Meiji Jingu Stadum. Getting a ticket for either is hard work, and it wasn't possible for me.

So going to at least see the Dome would do.

There is also an amusement park right next door with a roller coaster and some other things.



It's actually a very cool looking precinct, with the Tokyo Dome Hotel, and some kids entertainment places, plus a cafe and shop dedicated entirely to America's Major League Baseball.
And then there's also the shopping on the exterior of the Dome itself.

 

[GarrettM]

The Hall of Fame is all in Japanese, with no real English information. The attendant did give me a leaflet which explained some of the exhibits. But it's a bit hard to push a pram one-handed while reading sheets of A4 paper, so I simply walked around and observed.



A plaque for Japan's (and worldwide's) all-time home run king, Sadaharu Oh, who hit 868 long balls in a career spanning 21 years, from 1959 to 1980.

He apparently trained with a samurai sword, which is also in the Hall.



The two trophies from the 2007 and 2009 World Baseball Classics are on display.



And there's a map of the US, which I presume shows all current, and possiby former Japanese players to make it to the majors.



The most famous/succesful of these is probably Ichiro Suzuki, who's been a feature in MLB since 2001, and is still going pretty strong at 43.

 

[GarrettM]

You can test yourself with an interactive batting box against a HoF pitcher, whose name escapes me now.

Was a bit hard for me to try with the little one, but quite a few others had a crack.

None of them within a bull's roar of getting a "hit".

 

[GarrettM]

Bub was pretty good for the most part, although she got a litle fractious after a while.

So we stopped for some burgers at The Burgers Tokyo. Not bad. They don't do kids meals so I had to get two adult sets. She ate some of the bread and meat, some tomato and some chips. I ate the rest. And I had the cokes.





After that I managed to do a little but of shopping. A Hiroshima Carp Hello Kitty and Orix Buffaloes stuffed teddy for her. And a Carp baseballl cap for me. Pricey stuff.

And then back on the train for our "own room" as she likes to call it. I thought she would happily go to sleep on the train, but it wasn't to be. Instead she worked herself into the early stages of what would be an absolute monster meltdown later that afternoon. The less said about that the better.

Speaking of trains, I had read that Japan was full of beautiful women, but prior to this trip I was dubious. How wrong I was! I've lost count of the number of stunningly gorgeous women there are here. In the flesh and in commercial media.

Here is an advert I saw on the train back from the Dome.



I've decided if I ever meet this woman I will divorce my wife and marry her instead. But I haven't told the wife yet. No point stressing her out over something that might never happen.

 

[gaz0303]

So we stopped for some burgers at The Burgers Tokyo. Not bad. They don't do kids meals so I had to get two adult sets. She ate some of the bread and meat, some tomato and some chips. I ate the rest. And I had the cokes.

ive got a few kids...sometimes you just have to do for the team

 

[love_the_life]

View attachment 96901

I've decided if I ever meet this woman I will divorce my wife and marry her instead. But I haven't told the wife yet. No point stressing her out over something that might never happen.

"Might" never happen? Odds on that are worse than winning lotto, so wouldn't even think of it....
Think your wife is on a safe bet here.

 

[GarrettM]

"Might" never happen? Odds on that are worse than winning lotto, so wouldn't even think of it....
Think your wife is on a safe bet here.

Don't want her to get complacent though.
Speaking of such, I was totally naive to think I could maintain a live TR while touring a completely foreign land with a demanding toddler.
And I DO mean the child.

 

[GarrettM]

Saturday April 29. Tokyo Day 6. The start of Golden Week.

We needed to check out Tokyo Station to know where our train for Kanazawa would be leaving from, so we figured we'd head there and see what we could see of the grounds of the Imperial Palace.

The answer is not much. You can walk through some lawns and get up close to the remote, but we didn't see much more than that.

Seems you can pre-arrange some sort of tour, but we didn't know much about that.

Oh well. Got a few decent pics at any rate.

Tokyo Station kind of reminded me of Perth Train Station, only bigger and more efficient. Cleaner too. But architecturally I think there's some resemblance.



The Palace Hotel. Probably not in our budget.


The old and the new.


Don't you dare think about stepping on that grass,


or one of these men is likely to very apologetically usher you back on to the bitumen.

 

[GarrettM]

Nice digs. Wonder what the rent is.


Presumably an old guard post.


Moat.


Don't let the colour fool you. There are some big fish in there. Tortoises (torti?) too!

 

[GarrettM]

Cool light fittings.


A solid gate is crucial for any decent palace.


A few swans about. I thought this one would let me test the zoom on the camera.

 

[GarrettM]

After almost a week of Tokyo's cramped quarters it was strange to see such a vast open space.


We decided to return to the station and head to Akihabara for the afternoon. Got a few good shots of the buildings.


And we saw a wedding!

 

[drron]

Don't worry.I cant keep up with live TRs and I don't take a toddler along though mrsdrron says she does sometimes.

As for the Palace hotel if you go back with more kids it can work out being the value place.rooms are much larger and when we went with extended family 4 adults and 3 kids only needed 2 rooms.Most Japanese hotels you would need at least 3.

 

[GarrettM]

Good to know drron cheers.

I believe you've previously said you'd been to Japan about 30 times?

I can see why. What a remarkable place!

 

[love_the_life]

GarrettM, it sounds like you were not at the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace. These had lots of small walking paths through trees and lovely ponds/bridges etc. We liked them very much and it is a wonderful green space in the middle of Tokyo. You are right about the place being remarkable and very special